At least we have Maxwell back, far greater an artist than D'Angelo ever was

While I completely disagree with this because I think of D as the great soul voice of the past 10 years, Maxwell's a fuckin' champ. I can't wait to have the whole BLACKSUMMER'SNIGHT trilogy.

08-02-2011, 11:12 PM

bmack86

Re: SOUL

And I've been meaning to visit this thread to get some D'angelo discussion going. I just re-heard Brown Sugar for the first time in a long time. Good record, but hot damn was Voodoo a gigantic step forward. There's been more talk than normal that he's supposed to have an album out this year, and his past few interviews have seen him referencing Hendrix quite a bit. I'm hoping for a There's A Riot Going On sort of insular greatness.

08-02-2011, 11:51 PM

buddy

Re: SOUL

it's a damn shame he went off the rails with drugs, etc. I think about it a lot. Hopefully someday he can pull his life together, because I truly think he's an amazing talent, as proven with that Voodoo record. I think he could been thought of as not only one the best soul musicians, but one the best musicians/artists in any genre.

?: He goes to Europe in January. The album is pretty much 97% done. He's just finishing his lyrics now. He needs somebody to smack him and take the record away from him because it's pretty much finished. But I know he must turn this record in like three days before Christmas and that his first show is in Europe, and that he's going to do a whole bunch. They even named it the Occupy Music Tour, so I know they're serious about it.

For all intents and purposes, this album is the black version of [The Beach Boys'] Smile-- at best, it will go down in the Smile/There's a Riot Goin' On/Miles Davis' On the Corner category. That's what I'm hoping for. There's stuff on there I was amazed at, like new music patches [keyboard sounds] I've never heard before. I'd ask him, "What kind of keyboard is that?" I thought it was some old vintage thing. But he builds his own patches.

One song we worked on called "Charade" has this trombone patch that he re-EQ'd and then put through an envelope filter and then added a vibraphone noise on top and made a whole new patch out of it. He's the only person I know that takes a Herbie Hancock approach, or Malcolm Cecil and Robert Margouleff-- the two musician/engineers who programmed all of Stevie Wonder's genius-period stuff-- approach. That's the last time I ever heard of somebody building patches. We'll see if history is kind to it.

Show me Frank Ocean sitting at a piano playing a song that immediately gave every woman in the crowd an orgasm. It won't happen.

WELCOME BACK D.

02-28-2012, 05:37 PM

SoulDischarge

Re: SOUL

People who know a lot about the genre should post a list of 20 essential soul albums.

Also, can we get a memorandum going about banning the use of classic soul songs in shitty comedies and TV commercials so great pieces of music don't have to be consigned to bringing up memories of some scene in American Pie XXXI where some guy sticks his dick in a pinata filled with ferrets or whatever.

Stevie Wonder - Talking Book and Innervisions
Notable cuts from TB: Blame It On the Sun, I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever)
Notable cuts from I: Visions, All in Love is Fair

So that's quite a few already... Maybe i'll keep updating this

02-28-2012, 06:19 PM

ods..

Re: SOUL

AHHH I forgot Otis Blue...

I like your list too Bmack, I definitely stuck with 60s, 70s soul/R&B, but there has been a lot of great soul music to come out in the last 10-20 years too.

Badu, D'Angelo, Me'shell Negeocello

02-28-2012, 07:07 PM

bmack86

Re: SOUL

I really dug the last Raphael Saadiq too. I tried to cover most of my favorite soul bases, and other than Curtis to stick to one album per artist (The Impressions are different enough from his solo work, and hot damn is Young Mod's Forgotten Journey spectacular.)

02-28-2012, 07:21 PM

ods..

Re: SOUL

I thought the last Mayer Hawthorne was an awesome 21st century take on 70s soul/R&B. seriously, at points he sounds like a kenny loggins haha